Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's allies declared Thursday that the veteran leader had romped to an election victory, a claim rejected by his rival who branded the vote a "sham."

A top member of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party told AFP that Mugabe had trounced Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change in Wednesday's presidential and parliamentary elections.

Crisis-weary Zimbabweans flocked to vote Wednesday in a crunch election marked by accusations of rigging by President Robert Mugabe's allies to extend his 33-year rule.

Counting was due to begin shortly after polls began closing in the knife-edge race between Mugabe and his longtime political rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

African Union Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma flew into Harare Wednesday to assess Zimbabwe's preparedness for next week's elections.

"We are here... just to see how things are before the actual election day," Dlamini-Zuma said on arrival.

President Robert Mugabe kick-started his election campaign Thursday exuding confidence that Zimbabweans will vote to extend his 33-year rule when they go to the ballot box in three weeks' time.

"On the 31st of this month the whole country will vote ZANU-PF back into government," 89-year-old Mugabe said in an hour-long speech to some 6,000 supporters in Chiweshe, 120 km (75 miles) north of the capital Harare.

Elections to choose a new government in Zimbabwe will go ahead on July 31, the disputed date originally set by President Robert Mugabe, the country's top court ruled on Thursday.

The court dismissed appeals by both Mugabe and his nemesis Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, to have the date postponed following pressure from regional leaders.

Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court on Friday ordered President Robert Mugabe to set a date for crucial elections, which will end an uneasy power-sharing government, before the end of July.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ordered the 89-year-old Mugabe to "proclaim as soon as possible a date for the holding of presidential elections, general elections and elections of members of governing bodies of local authorities".

Four aides to Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai were on Tuesday charged with breaching the official secrets code, impersonating the police and illegal possession of documents for criminal use.

Thabani Mpofu, director for research in Tsvangirai's office, two subordinates and a senior party official were arrested on Sunday, in the wake of a key constitutional referendum.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Friday confirmed the holding of a referendum on a new constitution on March 16.

"I consider it desirable to ascertain the views of voters on whether or not the draft constitution should be enacted as the constitution of Zimbabwe," Mugabe said in a notice in the official government gazette.

Zimbabwe's prime minister announced Wednesday that the country will hold a constitutional referendum in March followed by elections in July, a timetable that will decide the fate of veteran President Robert Mugabe.

"There will be a referendum in March," said Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe's rival in the power sharing government.

After paying public workers' salaries last week, the balance in cash-strapped Zimbabwe's government public account stood at just $217, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Tuesday.

"Last week when we paid civil servants there was $217 (left) in government coffers," Biti told journalists in the capital Harare, claiming some of them had healthier bank balances than the state.